Why Do We Send Members to Houston?

Last month, for the second consecutive year, THC sent members to New Life Fellowship for the annual “House Church Seminar for Lay Leaders”. New Life Fellowship is the “ESC” (English Speaking Congregation) of Seoul Baptist Church which was led by Pastor Young G. Chai who pioneered the “House Church” model that we follow at THC (Family Church).

You may be wondering why we do this. Why do we fly members out to Houston, Texas to be trained? Can’t they receive training here at THC?

 Here are three reasons why we have sent members (and will continue to send as long as NLF allows us to):

A good portion of the seminar is dedicated to learning more about the structure of House Church (which is important). I’ve learned that people (including myself) don’t learn a complicated system in one, two, or three sittings. We also learn from different type of speakers and in different seasons of our life.

Our members learn about House Church from a church that has been doing this for close to 20 years. 20 years of seeing VIPs come to Christ. 20 years of seeing lay members empowered to lead and Shepherd.

We can learn a lot from them!

One thing I try to say often to members of THC is, “I’m excited for you to become a Shepherd in the future!” I want members to catch a vision for leadership within the church, being a missionary wherever God has called them, and pointing them to Christ’s timeless call to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:20).

At the seminar, THC members, learn about Shepherding through the experience of NLF Shepherds modeling it to them. 

THC attendees experience servant-leadership ministry from their hosting NLF Shepherd through:

- the giving of rides to and from the airport and church.  

- the treating us out to eat.

- the hosting of us in their homes throughout the stay of the seminar.

- silently watching how NLF Shepherds lead their Friday night House Church.

- witnessing how NLF Shepherds live their life at home. 

Oftentimes we think of “learning” in terms of what is lectured to us or what we read in a book. But one thing I love about the House Church model is the constant emphasis that discipleship is not just “knowledge-transfer”, but “field experience”. Discipleship is the implementation of that knowledge into everyday life. We send members so they can experience Shepherding ministry themselves.

It is not the goal of The Home Church to become exactly like New Life Fellowship. Our goal individually, and corporately, is to be like Christ (Romans 8:29). But I also believe that it is good for us to see, with our own eyes, what a church that is committed to the Great Commission can look like in 20 years.

To see a church with a similar starting point as us (English Ministry of about 50 members) commit themselves to reaching the lost and making disciples for 20 years and seeing the fruit of that kind of sacrifice is truly inspiring and encouraging!

To see and hear the stories of Shepherding pains, VIPs coming to Christ, missionaries supported, leaders being developed, and members committing to the mission despite their busy lives is like a giant testimony being dropped on your heart.

I asked the 7 members who went to the seminar last month to share some insights and leave an encouragement to us, as a church. Here’s what they said: 

Kelly Kao:

“From my experience visiting NLF, I've met people who have been shepherds for almost 20 years, some have multiplied several times and some have only multiplied once. Either way, their church is centered around this model that is motivated by biblical community and fellowship, and especially winning the lost to make disciples. I really saw the fruit of that at NLF, and I pray that God can center our hearts for this same mission so that we can emulate the type of community reflected in the New Testament.”
 
Kristin Choi:

“I would like to encourage THC by telling them to not give up. To not be complacent in the structure of Family Church that has been implemented into our church, but to use the structure for the furthering of God’s kingdom. To take an ACTIVE role. To take advantage of a church structure that is geared in members being allowed to easily evangelize to non-Christians through the love of Christian community. I would also like to challenge committed members in each Family Church (non-shepherds) - that there is a vital role that each member plays in their Family Church and there is a role that each person can do to support their Family Church’s growth.”
 
Jane Park:

“Hello THC!  It’s been about a year or two since we’ve embarked on this journey called family church! Since we’ve started, we’ve already had a few multiplications! And NLF started out just the same way too but now they have 77 family churches and everyone is like one huge family!! Keep inviting your V.I.Ps out to fc so they can be exposed to the love of God and pray for them that they’d feel it and realize that this love is different than any other love in this world. Keep winning the lost!”

Lucas Kao:

“If we dedicate ourselves to pursuing building a real Christian community and be humble enough to allow God to work through us throughout this process, we can do what God tells us to do, which is to reach the lost and make disciples. God is waiting to reach people around us, and God can work through us if we pursue Him and lean on Him. He can use us to accomplish His will here on Earth as it is in Heaven. And ultimately, that's the end purpose of each one of us, right? So why not now? I've already seen how much people at this church have grown in 2 years. In terms of the lost being reached and have their lives turned around, I've seen much more than I would've guessed 2 years ago. Imagine how much things could change in 20 years. God is ready - waiting and willing to work with us to accomplish so much. We just have to participate with Him, and work with Him. Let's go!”
 
Joan Lim:

“For a really long time, it was difficult for me to envision my future at THC (getting married and starting a family), especially because there aren’t a lot of young families to look up to. However, when I sat in for the HC on Saturday night, it was like I was looking through to the future of THC. Friends gathering with their kids and spending time away from work, home, stress, and everything else that comes with it. Instead, they were broken people coming together to be renewed and refreshed through the presence of the community they were surrounded by. I also realized how important it is for believers to be bold and courageous about their faith. My host shepherds told me that Don, one of the NLF shepherds, would randomly ask people to join for a free Friday night dinner and people would come in and hear about Jesus. Since I got back, I have been trying to pray every night for at least 10 minutes, and in these prayers, I ask God to give us the same vision that He has for our church. I pray that He would fill us with the boldness to reach out to those who do not yet know how great our God is.”
 
Papa Mitch:

“The seminar confirmed to love hard and love hard and love them long, it’s not a quick process it’s not what can I accomplish in one year but 5 or 10 and it’s not about me it’s about letting God use me as a vessel for Him to use.

I returned with anticipation to see we’re God will take Home Church as we use this model of family church, and YES it’s worth all the struggles preparing and cleaning, cooking, counseling and pointing them to Jesus.

Thank you for this opportunity to go I would strongly recommend this for all future Shepherds so they can see the results that family church will yield love Papa”
 
Mama Delia:

“First, I love that we’re on new ground and that this will be here long after I’m gone. This is the way we love each other and serve each other. This is how God wants us to love each other. We will make an impact by the way we love each other. It’s Jesus’ 2nd command- to love each other through this, others will know we are Christians. Praise the Lord!!”

In closing...

We are still, very much, in the “foundation-setting” aspect of the Family Church model. One of the things that I will always remember from Pastor Eric, who I now look up to, is him saying, “Pastor, if you want to implement House Church into your congregation than be prepared to be at your church for a minimum of 10 years because it will not be until that point that you really see exponential fruit for the Kingdom.”
 
I am reminded of the James’ words in James 5:7 –

“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.”
 
Let’s keep inviting VIPs with boldness, serving one another with joy, and sacrificially loving one another as Christ has told us to! 

Your Pastor,

Mitchell 

We're just beginning.

Best is yet to come.

For Christ's Eternal Kingdom :)